Reasons Book Blogging Is Worth It: Readathons

Reasons Book Blogging Is Worth Itis a feature we here at Good Books And Good Wine will be examining why, for us, blogging about books is worth the time, the money, the drama and the frustration. This will be an ongoing series, unique to our blog, at least in the format/way we decide to lay out our reasons. We ask that you please do not copy this feature without express permission as this is a series that has taken a lot of hard work and planning.

Reason 1. Readathons

I think it’s not exactly a secret how much I love Readathons. From Bout of Books to this weekend’s Dewey 24 Hour Readathon, I love barricading myself in a room with a stockpile of books and food. I think we all know how solitary reading can be as an activity, without the benefit of book blogging or being in a book club. That’s sort of the nature of the beast. Yet, activities like Readathons almost make reading feel like an Olympic sport, one that I am actually good at.

What do I LOVE about readathons?:

Picking out my piles. Seriously, there is something to be said for the carefully curated pile of books. I am one of those people who consults goodreads, I consult twitter, then I walk back and forth between my various shelves and pull books and put books back. It’s actually sort of tactile. Then there’s the taking of the special photo and posting the pile. I love that. I love the encouragement I get over my pile and even the advice about which books are maybe not the best choice.

Picking out my food. Not every readathon requires that you buy special food to fuel up. Yet, the Dewey Readathon takes place over 24 hours and so, many people purchase food ahead of time, prepare their food early and take pictures. Naturally, this is one of the few events of the year where I say, fuck you to my newly acquired healthy eating habits and gorge on junk food without guilt. I am one of those weirdos who actually goes shopping specifically to buy food for this event. No regrets, y’all.

Goodreads Goal Boost. Straight up, as someone who is like 3 books behind as of today for her goodreads challenge, I LOVE that readathons give me the opportunity to get 4 books ahead and build me that nice little cushion. I’ll admit, I purposely choose short books that I can whip right through, but hey, every little bit helps when getting that elusive you are 3% ahead of your goal sentence.

My individual readathon quirks. So, I have a special Dewey Readathon quirk. I always try to open the readathon for myself by reading a book by Roald Dahl. Every single year I try to have one of his books in my pile. For me, they set the mood and the tone of my readathon. I also always tend to put the same sort of books in my pile — for the last 4 readathons I’ve had the first Sailor Moon manga and Bone in my pile but never get to them, LOL.

Cheerleaders. For awhile, I used to sign up to cheer at the Dewey readathon in an official capacity, which basically means leaving friendly comments and sending encouraging tweets to participants. I no longer do this, but still set aside an hour or two to take a break and cheer. I mainly cheer for my friends, but I also will scroll through the hashtag to find new people to leave encouraging comments or tweets. It’s a fabulous way to meet other people in our awesome community that I haven’t really interacted with yet.

The warm fuzzies. Not to get all gross and weird on you all, but readathons totally give me the warm fuzzies. There’s something incredible about a massive group of people spending their day doing nothing but reveling in reading and encouraging each other to hit their goals. I love that no one in our community says HOW DARE YOU SPEND YOUR DAY READING AND NOT CLEANING OR WORKING ETC ETC ETC. Instead, we high five each other for things like that. I love that we trend on twitter. I love that for one event, Bout Of Books we get to really meet other people and form full on friendships. I love that for the Dewey Readathon we honor Dewey, a blogger that many participants, including myself, never got to know, but who left her stamp on the community.

Just writing this post has me smiling and feeling great about my hobby of choice. What about you all? Does participation in community events make you feel included as a part of something larger? Do you get the warm fuzzies from things like Bout of Books and the Dewey Readathon, not to mention Bloggiesta (a blogathon)? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear what you have to say!

April is 30 years old and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and baby, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

I could never get the hang of read-a-thons. While I love reading, I simply cannot do a lot of it in one day or even over a weekend. I see people who read like 5/6 books and I can barely do one. I was surprised I was able to read 2 books over the course of Easter Weekend (and I’d gotten 40 pages into one of them before that weekend started). I just get a headache if I read too much.

Get to that Sailor Moon manga- you will not regret it!! It’s an awesome series.

I absolutely love this post! Read-a-thons are so much fun and I’m really excited for this Saturday! I love the feeling that people all over the world are reading together and I get warm fuzzies from this as well 🙂 Also, I’ve already started planning the food, I’ve already gotten some snacks, I’m just not sure what to do about dinner… Maybe I’ll just let the boyfriend cook me something 🙂

I have such happy feelings about the 24-Hour-Readathon! I’m just sad that I haven’t been able to successfully participate in one for a few years :(. I also fondly remember when it was only about 80 people and you could visit everyone. But it’s exciting to have so many join in these days. It’s always nice to know there are others who share your obsessions!

I haven’t participated in a Readathon yet, but it’s on my to-do list. I think most of my hesitation is that I work so hard at my full-time job during the week that the weekends are my time to get errands/miscellaneous things done. I’m so sick of not being able to enjoy my free time though that I’m about to say f-it and join one! Also, my lack of a Twitter account(because I’m like the last person on Earth without a smartphone) sort of keeps me out of the loop when it comes to cheering and that just makes me sad. However, I’m trying to not make excuses anymore because I really love how Readathons bring the community together, so yeah, totally doing it this year!

I’m so glad you posted about readathons and how much you love them. I’ve been thinking about participating in my first readathon (Bout of Books) in May so it’s been on my mind. I can’t really participate in the 24 Hour one because I am working Saturday.

Now I’m pretty much positive I will be participate in Bout of Books. And I’m super excited about it. And I’m wondering what books I should add to my pile, and what my goals should be.

You totally almost made me participate, and I’m always super jelly of all the reading you get done, but I don’t think I can stay up for 24 hours, even for reading. I would be SO SLEEPY. Also, the weekend is my time for getting all the sleep and I would die the next week from not having caught up some hours.

I don’t participate in readathons very often, mostly because I always seem to have some sort of conflict that gets in the way. But when I do, I always have a lot of fun! It’s great to feel like all the bloggers are getting together for one giant sleepover where everyone will just read and read and READ some more. These readathons always foster a great sense of community among bloggers, and that’s something I can fully get behind!

I’m the WORST when it comes to readathons, I always say I’m going to participate, get SUPER excited planning my list, snacks, etc., and then life bites me in the ass and I have to skip out for some dumb reason, or just half ass it. Hopefully one day I will do one properly and get all kinds of warm fuzzies. 🙂

I second… third… fourth… however many people have said they love this feature! Great idea!

I’ve never really participated in a legitimate readathon because every Saturday I have my own. I do really like the idea of knowing that other people are doing the same thing as me and going through the same preparation. Buying food for a 24-hour readathon is such a cool idea, haha. I would stock up on some Sweet Chili Heat Doritos if I were you 🙂

I’m pumped! I haven’t been able to do Dewey’s readathon before because it was during finals, but I’m finishing finals early this year 😀 This is the first time I’m really preparing for a readathon, I’ve got my list of books all prepped 😀

YES! Just reading this post made me so happy. 😀 And not only because it reminded me just in time that I had, in fact, completely forgotten that Dewey’s was coming up. I just love readathons!

I have only participated in one 24-hour readathon before, and although yet again, I don’t have the whole 24 hours free to devote to reading, I am still excited to participate. Bout of Books is basically my favorite week EVER (even though I definitely accidentally gave myself eyestrain last time and thought I was going to have to get glasses for a while).

I’m not so good at the whole book blogging thing except during readathons! I am so busy these days that I like the readathon because it means that I can legitimately spend all day reading. Well except for the hour I am spending at Pilates tomorrow but that counts as exercise.

Plus I’m moving next week so I legitimately need to read lots of books to see if I am going to keep them or not!

I am IN LOVE with this new feature, April. It’s such a great idea, and I love how it keeps the positivity flowing. I’m always a fan of that! Readathons are a great first topic, too! I can’t participate in the 24-hour Dewey’s this weekend, but I’m definitely going to give Bout of Books a go next month. I love the idea of readathons, but I never seem to have as much time to devote to them as we’re supposed to, and I would never make it for 24 hours! Not even with coffee! But I love them anyway because I think total immersion is SUPER and I completely agree with you about the encouragement and good vibes throughout the community while a readathon is in progress. They DO make all of the drama and hard work worth it! I hope you kill it this weekend, lady!

[…] First things first, make peace with the fact that you will not spend all twenty four hours of the readathon reading. That is, unless you hire a sitter, or you have different supports who are willing to take care of your child the entire time. The earlier you come to grips with this reality, the sooner you’ll be able to come up with a reading action plan for the day. […]

Hello Reader Friends!

I’m April and am absolutely delighted you stopped by.

You know that person who always has a book in their purse and a glass of wine on hand? THAT’S ME.

In my free time I can be found binge watching The Office with my husband and baby, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring my neighborhood. I’m so excited to chat with you about all the books we’re reading and listening to.